Final Draft

Heath Brooks

English 3080J

12/03/2012

                                               The One That Got Away

           

           Writing this paper wasn’t as easy for me as it was for most of my other classmates. I didn’t have any tragedies growing up, or any life changing events that made me change how I think or feel. I don’t think there is anything particularly about me that stands out, at least enough that I should write about it. As I started to brainstorm I found that there was something that separated me, not necessarily from my classmates, but from most people where I come from. What separated me was the mere fact that I moved away from home. I understand to you it may not seem like a big deal or anything significant, but back in the Ohio Valley, it’s a great change.

            I grew up in a small town in southeastern Ohio called Shadyside. In the census that had been taken in 2010, Shadyside had a population of 3,875 people("United States Census 2010"). Shadyside is the type of town where everybody knows everybody else, and if they don’t know you, then you aren’t easily accepted. Shadyside is part of what is called the Ohio Valley. The Ohio Valley is made up of about 20 towns in southeastern Ohio. There isn’t a lot of diverse work in the Ohio Valley, mainly labor jobs. For example; coal mines, electrical plants, chemical plants, aluminum plants, contractors, and local union halls. In the Ohio Valley most kids end up either in the work force or in a local college close to home after graduating high school. Few rarely do what I am doing now, which is pursuing an Electrical Engineering degree at Ohio University. The person who influenced me to do so has done most of the jobs that I have listed above, my father.

            My dad has been a laborer his whole life. It started when he was younger; his dad owned a farm and put my dad to work early. When my dad graduated high school he went into the engineering battalion of the U.S. army as a brick mason, and served during the Grenada War. After serving his time my dad came home and worked for a construction company called Melankos. After that he went on to the local carpenter hall, and also did his own carpentry on the side. Then, six months before I was born he got a job at ORMET CORP, an aluminum reduction plant, and has been working there as a sheet metal worker for 21 years. My dad never had any money growing up, and he really doesn’t make much now. He has had to work for everything that he’s ever gotten every day of his life. He doesn’t want the same life for me. In his work experience and from knowing that I am good at math and want that I’d like to live near home, my dad found something he thought would fit me.

            One day in the summer before my senior year my dad had asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I said, “I don’t know really, go to college and get a good job.” He asked, “Well what would you like that good job to be?” I didn’t know. Truth be told I don’t want to do anything, I hate work. My dad does side jobs all the time and it’s tough. So I told him I didn’t really care what just something that made good money, and he suggested that I be an electrical engineer. After he explained what it was and how much I’d make I was hooked. Through all my 17 years before that moment I had no idea what I wanted to be, and one suggestion made up my mind. My dad pitched me an idea and I went with it.

            As a kid growing up I never really got majorly disappointed, just kind of went with the flow. My reasoning for never really caring about things or getting up set was, even if I do show that I’m mad or sad, it’s not going to change anything. For example, when I was six years old all I wanted to do was play tee ball. I looked forward to it all spring. Two weeks before sign ups I decided to jump off a swing and I ended up breaking my arm. Although I didn’t get to play that year I knew that nothing I did was going to make me able to. My parents thought it was weird that I didn’t care, but it didn’t bother me. This go with the flow thing followed me into high school. I played three sports in high school, basketball, baseball, and football. When I got to my sophomore year there was a kid worse than me getting more varsity time than I was. My mom was mad and told me to say something to the coach. I simply looked at her and said, “Mom if I’m good enough, I’ll play,” and that was it. Basketball was by far my favorite sport. Most of my friends were on the team with me.

            I had a close group of eight friends growing up. We did everything together; played the same sports, hung out every day after school, partied together, everything. I have to give credit to who I am today to them. How I view things, my attitude, and my personality, even some of my intelligence comes from those guys. I also have had a girlfriend for 3 years, and I love her very much. She has also shaped a lot of my views on things. She is a typical “Shadian”. More than three generations have grown up and lived in Shadyside. They all mostly played sports also. If you would ask anybody in the Ohio Valley who she is, they’d know. She will never leave Shadyside, and I respect that. That is where her family is, and she is very close with them. I am also close with my friends and family, this had an influence on my decision of where I wanted to go to college. Because I didn’t want to leave the valley I decided to go a local college to get my core courses out of the way.

  (Me holding the District 12 championship trophy)

            
           I spent my freshman year at Ohio University Eastern Campus. I played basketball and didn’t declare a major. This year was one of the best of my life. I got to see my friend sad my girlfriend every day, I was still playing organized basketball, the classes were easy, and I was still living at home with my family. The longer I stayed at OUE the more I didn’t want to leave it, and in order to get a degree in electrical engineering, I was going to have to. So I kept taking business classes thinking that I might find something that I would be interested in, but I didn’t.  I also took an accounting class to see if that’s what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t pretend I didn’t want to do what my father said. I knew that even though leaving all my friends, family, and my girlfriend, that it was going to be the best thing for me in the long run and that it would make my dad proud to see me rise above a laborers job.

            In the fall of 2011 I went to OU for electrical engineering. The campus is a lot different than anything i have ever seen. At Ohio University there are approximately 17,302 undergraduate students("Ohio University "). It was really weird being in a place where I knew less than 0.1% of the people, compared to knowing almost everybody back home.The first few weeks were awful. I lived on South Green in Pickering Hall. Most of my classes were in the Academic and Research Center which is on the opposite side of classes, so I had a 15 minute walk for every from class. The classes were a lot harder too. My first electrical engineering class was pretty intimidating. When I walked into that class for the first time I had no expectations about what I was going to experience, all I had were butterflies in my stomach. I had a similar feeling the day I left the valley for Ohio University. I tried to convince myself that I didn’t care that much about being away from everybody, but I did. I went home every single weekend. I think that’s the only reason I got through the first semester. After the first quarter I told my dad I wanted to come home. He had said “You can’t quit something just because it isn’t easy, shit; nothing comes easy in life, that’s just the way it is.” After he said that, I couldn't help but to think about what Jimmy Valavano said,"Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding"(Clark). So I went back winter quarter I gave a better effort. I made new friends, still being close to the old ones, and started to go to the Ping Center to play basketball. I just had to stay busy and focused.

     (The students at OU on Halloween)

             
             This year at OU has been a little easier. I now live in an apartment on Coulson Avenue over by West Green. It is pretty close close to the engineering building so it is not a long walk anymore. It is a lot nicer having your own place too because you don't have to be around a lot of people you don't know. I stay with one of my close friends from high school also so I feel more like I'm back at home. I am currently finishing up my first junior semester and feels like time has flown. I  still go home every weekend to see my girlfriend and my family. Although I have chosen this Athens lifestyle 5 days a week, I am still in sync when I go home. Each time I go back its like I never left. It feels like yesterday I was back at home thinking about the options I had, and what was the best thing for me to do. Now I'm sitting in my living room in Athens writing this paper, with a feeling of confidence in my decision.
              Writing this paper really opened my eyes to all that I have gone through, and every thing that I have accomplished. I went out into the world on my own to make a name for myself. I wanted to pursue something that was going to challenge me to be the best I can be. And although I left my home and have adopted some new friends in Athens, I still stay close to my friends at home and I am a Valley boy at heart. I know now that I'm sure that I'm on the right track. Before this year I was feeling a great deal of emotions and questions. Was I making the right decision? Am I doing this for me, or for my dad? I believe that I started out doing this for my dad and to make him proud of me, not just to make him proud but to make it so that all his hard work has not been in vein. But now I believe I am not going to regret my actions, and that I will succeed by them. I don't know what the future holds for me, and I don't yet know for sure if this degree will work out for be. What I do know is that I can be proud of myself for stepping up and trying to be something more. The world awaits me.
          
                                               Works Cited

Clark, Isiaiah. "Multiple Sports." Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report, 21 2010. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://bleacherreport.com/articles/423363-10-of-the-best-sports-quotes-of-all-time/page/11>.

n.p. "2010 Census Interactive Population Search." United States Census 2010. U.S. Census Bureau. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/ipmtext.php?fl=39>. 

 n.p. "Undergraduate Admissions." Ohio University . Ohio University Undergraduate Admissions. Web. 10 Dec 2012. <http://www.ohio.edu/admissions/facts.cfm>.